


Out In The Open

by simply_aly



Category: The Vampire Diaries (TV)
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-01-20
Updated: 2018-01-20
Packaged: 2019-03-07 03:33:37
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 670
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13425909
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/simply_aly/pseuds/simply_aly
Summary: He hated the pain then—hated the transformation more than anything in the entire world—but he'd do it all again if she would just be his again.(Written post 2.11 "By The Light of The Moon")





	Out In The Open

**Author's Note:**

> This was written seven years ago back in 2011, I'm working on rearchiving older fics.

When Tyler sees her in the halls now, all he can think of is how it felt to have her arms around him. When he sees Matt kiss her, all he can hear are her soothing words in his ear. He hated the pain then—hated the transformation more than anything in the entire world—but he'd do it all again if she would just be his again.

She walks with him to his car after school. "Just, you know, to make sure you're all right," she says when he asks why, and he hates that there's no other reason.

"I'm fine," he tells her as she opens the passenger door to get in, "you don't need to stay." Of course, he wants her to stay; he wants her to stay so fucking much, he can't even express it. But he can't stand to have her around if she's going to pretend nothing has changed.

She does stay, and they drive to the Lockwood mansion in silence. He wants to tell her exactly what he's feeling, but he doesn't know how to verbalize the many emotions in his head right now. He doesn't want to scare her with the intensity of them.

They spend the day talking, exchanging supernatural information in between chemistry and history. They talk about television shows; she's addicted to Gossip Girl and he misses True Blood. All the while, he's clenching and unclenching his fists in an ongoing attempt to keep himself from attacking her. Somehow, he manages to keep the conversation light and listening to her prattle on about the intricacies of Gossip Girl keeps him in check.

His mom finds them laughing about something, and they refuse to tell her what, but she invites Caroline to stay for dinner and she accepts.

When his mom is safely out of earshot, Tyler turns to Caroline. "Do you actually eat human food still?" he asks.

Caroline just laughs. "What do you suppose I eat during lunch at school, Tyler?" she asks. "It's not like I can bring a blood bag in a lunch box and have it in front of the whole school. Of course I can have human food, you idiot!"

And he laughs and it sets him at ease throughout dinner. He sits next to Caroline, and watches in morbid fascination as she, a vampire, manages to charm his mother, part of the council against vampires. Eventually, his mother points out the late hour, and Tyler offers to drive Caroline home. The smile she gives him is absolutely brilliant, and he can't help but smile back.

He spends the entire drive to her house trying to figure out the best way to explain what he's feeling, because he knows he has to do it. He can't take this any longer and he doesn't think he'll be able to go the entire week at school watching her and Matt—not if he hasn't made the effort to be honest and tell her what he's feeling.

He walks her to the door, and there's an awkward goodbye. The next thing he knows, she's turning around, her hand is on the doorknob, and he's missing his chance, and he knows it, so he does the only thing he can think to do. He grabs her free arm, twirls her around and kisses her, pouring as many of his emotions into the kiss as he can manage. And she responds for a moment, in that small amount of time when it's just a kiss and the two people involved hardly matter. But then it's him and her and there's Matt and he can practically  _feel_  her confusion as she pulls away screaming, "Everyone needs to stop kissing me," before opening the door and hiding inside her house.

He stands there for a moment afterward, trying to gather his emotions. He did it. It's out there, and they have to deal with it now. He doesn't have to hide it and she can no longer pretend.

He did it.


End file.
